Acute Hospitals Overspend

The Irish Patients Association is deeply concerned about the report quoted today on RTE about the level of overspends at our hospitals particularly the projected cash flow situations of some of these hospitals.

Speaking this morning Chairman Stephen McMahon said that

“ what is now facing the Health Care system makes former Minister Harney’s declaration of a state of emergency in our A & Es look more like a tea party to what faces us in the coming months.

The stark reality is, if a Hospital runs out of cash it cannot pay staff, pay suppliers and of crucial importance will cease treating patients.”

What is needed now is that there is a consistent principle across all Hospitals that “Patient Impact statements are conducted by all crises budget management teams who are considering budgetary options. To minimize effects on any patients”

Where fiscal probity by hospital management is evident the government should in parallel examine the possibility of rescheduling payouts to public private partnerships if revenues are ahead of schedule for example a recent Irish Times report June 13th 2011 reported that “Dublin’s M50 is no longer a public-private partnership and is wholly owned by the State. While traffic volumes on the M50 are rising significantly, the NRA is using this revenue to pay off €600 million to the WestLink Bridge’s former owners, National Toll Roads, and for the €1 billion M50 widening Scheme. Such savings from a reschedule could possibly be applied to the Acute Hospital System”